Witch 101

1: Cleansing

Before we start mixing up brews and casting spells, we all need to learn to cleanse ourselves, our space, and our tools! Cleansing is a very basic magickal working and is very important in witchcraft.

Basics of cleansing:

Cleansing is removing all previous, stagnant, negative energies from a person, place, or object. It is very important to cleanse your magickal tools, such as crystals, candles, and containers, before casting a spell as old energies can influence the spell in a negative, unexpected, or unwanted way.

Some methods of cleansing:

The moon
Salt
Smoke cleansing with incense or herb bundles
Water
Earth
Stream

With each method, remember to focus on your intention!

The moon

You can easily leave tools and crystals out in the full moon's light to cleanse. i dont recommend leaving them in the sunlight as this can fade some crystals.

With salt

St is a very good way to cleanse your crystals and small tools. It can also represent earth on your altar. Fill a bowl with sea salt and place your crystals or small items on it.
remember, like all cleansing methods and parts of witchcraft, it will not work unless you have intention!
Be careful as some crystals may corrode on salt so please research before you cleanse.

Smoke cleansing

Smoke cleansing is an effective way to cleanse a space, yourself, or other items. please be careful not to light anything on fire when using smoke cleansing bundles or incense. remember not to use white sage unless you are a native person.
smoke cleansing removes all energy, make sure to speak the energy you want into your space. you can use herbs like sage, lavender, cedar, juniper, rosemary, pine, etc.

4. water

running water is a powerful tool for cleansing. you can use tap water. just be careful as this may damage or dissolve some crystals. research what crystals will be damaged before you cleanse them with water.

5. earth

bury your crystals underneath the ground and leave them for a few days. the earth is full of natural and pure energy which is great for cleansing. be careful not to lose your crystals when you use this method.

6. steam

probably the easiest method yet, you can cleanse crystals by holding them a few seconds above steam, either from tea, coffee or a diffuser.
this is especially good for broom closet witches because it's discreet.

charging

like a device, crystals need to be charged which can be done by leaving them in sunlight. careful doing this, because a lot of crystals, like amethyst, smokey and rose quartz, will fade. don't charge them for more than thirty minutes in the sun, otherwise they can be overcharged.

why do we cleanse?

we cleanse to get rid of negative or stagnant/old energies. witchcraft is mostly about energy work, so it's important that we cleanse so we can use the best, most positive, freshest (?) energies in our spells. even if you're doing a negative spell like a curse, you still need to cleanse, because you need to get rid of the old, stagnant energies or energies that could harm you or interfere with the spell.